Manufacturing parts and components often requires treating selected or target surfaces areas with selected substances while leaving non-target surface areas unaffected. The selected substances may include a gas or a liquid. A possible target surface area may be one of six faces of a cubic structure (i.e. a three-dimensional rectangle). FIG. 1A shows a cubic structure 100 with a treated surface area 105 on one of the six faces of cubic structure 100, while five faces of cubic structure 100 are not treated. Of course, cubic structure 100 could have more than one of its faces treated. FIG. 1B shows a sphere 125 that includes a treated surface area 130. FIG. 1C illustrates a prism-like structure 150 that includes treated surface area 155 covering two of the five faces of prism-like structure 150. FIGS. 1A-1C are only examples of parts or objects with surface areas or surfaces that may be desirable to treat.
In some cases, it is desirable to etch the target surface area and in other cases, it may be desirable to apply a coating to the target surface area. Often times, the target surface area must be treated within very tight tolerances. One conventional method of treating a target surface area includes placing the part or object to be treated in a cradle or holder that covers the non-target surface area but leaves the target surface area exposed for treatment. However, this method has the potential drawback of unacceptable tolerance differences between the part to be treated and the cradle. Additionally, separating the object or part from the cradle after the treatment may cause an uneven coating edge or otherwise be problematic. Consequently, a method of selectively treating a target surface area of a part without the drawbacks of the conventional methods is desirable.